Season Comes to a Close with 5-1 Loss Sunday at Minnesota Duluth

Duluth, Minn. – The Ohio State women’s hockey team fell 5-1 in game three of its first round WCHA playoff series against Minnesota Duluth Sunday night at AMSOIL Arena.

It was another tightly contested battle between two teams who have seen a lot of each other over the last three seasons, especially come playoff time. The Buckeyes remained within one score of the Bulldogs until midway through the final period and a pair of empty-net goals in the final moments made the score a poor reflection of the actual game.

Senior goaltender Lisa Steffes made 19 saves for the Buckeyes, who outshot UMD 25-24 in the contest. The power play once again was a factor as OSU was unable to convert on any of its six chances while the Bulldogs were successful on two of four attempts.

For the third night in a row Minnesota Duluth took the game’s first lead, scoring at 9:24 of the opening period as junior Zoe Hickel placed one over the right shoulder of Steffes.

Ohio State would respond at the 16:31 mark of period one as junior forward Kayla Sullivan buried a shot top-shelf for her second goal of the season. Fellow juniors Danielle Gagne and Sara Schmitt tallied the assists on the game-tying mark.

A goal off the stick of Sidney Morin at 7:06 of the second stanza put the Bulldogs ahead for good. They would add another power play goal from Hickel at 9:35 of the third and a pair of empty-netters in the last couple minutes of action to make it a 5-1 final.

The Buckeyes finish the 2013-14 season with an overall record of 15-17-5, 9-15-5 in the WCHA.

Final Notes

Senior Ally Tarr leads the Buckeyes in scoring for the second-consecutive season. She finishes with 32 points on 11 goals and 21 assists.

Freshman Claudia Kepler finishes with a team-high 12 goals becoming the first rookie Buckeye to lead the team in goals since Hokey Langan in 2009-10. Tarr and Sara Schmitt shared the team lead in assists with 21 apiece.

Steffes finishes 2013-14 with Ohio State all-time single season bests in goals-against average (1.86) and save percentage (.935).